Our streets are covered with ice and there’s more snow in the forecast for tomorrow. But I’m already dreaming of spring because I received my lovely Baker Creek catalog in the mail recently.
The folks at Baker Creek are homeschoolers who want to encourage people to use heirloom seeds. Their catalog is just beautiful. Snag your free copy by going to their website but don’t wait too long; they’ve been known to run out of copies!
Over the weekend I got caught up in reading about the tragic story of actor John Travolta’s 16-year-old son Jett, who died suddenly on Friday after a seizure-related injury.
The comments sections of articles about this issue posted on the Internet were packed with diatribes related to Jett’s possibly having been autistic, and speculation about whether he was being treated properly (the Travoltas belong to the cult of Scientology, which opposes psychotropic meds). The Travoltas have long-denied that Jett was autistic, although some who knew Jett did not believe them.
What really got my attention was the large number of comments from readers who said they themselves were parents of special needs children. I’m sure a few were lying in a misguided effort to boost their credibility (after all, you can say anything on the Internet). But most rang true, because they fell into the two general categories of special needs parents I’ve come to recognize:
1) The Fighters. They cope with their child’s diagnosis by putting their energies into fighting/curing the malady. They join rallies (“Walk for Autism”) and cite studies and statistics. They’re the cheerleaders in the fight against the disability and for funding in related matters.
2) The Accepters. They’ve come to terms with their child’s disability for the most part, often after many years of struggle. They appear more concerned about incorporating their child into normal daily life than focusing on the disability.
Commenters from the first group were more accusatory against the Travoltas. The second group tended to be more sympathetic, with many also suggesting that people who are not parents of special needs children had no right to criticize the Travoltas because they had not “walked in their shoes.”
My thoughts are closer to those of the second group. The lives of special needs parents can be quite challenging and lonely. No one who hasn’t been there should criticize them.
I feel sorry for the Travoltas. They must be in so much pain over the loss of their son. As Scientologists, they themselves are disabled in that they must face their grief without the knowledge and comfort of the one true God. That is the biggest tragedy of all.
Hope you enjoyed the Christmas holiday! I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since I last posted. But I’m glad I took a break from blogging because I needed to spend that time with my family.
Our son and his wife came to stay with us for a few days before Christmas. It was nice to have them here, and our younger kids enjoyed some much-needed big brother time. While they were here, we made Christmas cookies together, went to the movies, and relaxed.
On Christmas Eve, we drove in two cars through snow and slush to the Chicago area. That evening our daughter and her boyfriend met up with us, and we had a lovely family gathering….in our hotel room.
Why a hotel room? Well, we lived in Chicagoland for nearly all of our lives, and our family Christmas would have been held in our home there, if we still had a home there. But we don’t, so I borrowed an idea from my cousin. She has five children and tons of grandchildren, all scattered over a couple of states. So she rents a centrally located hotel room or vacation home for their family gatherings. I really admire her for this. She sees that it’s more important that everyone be able to get together, than where they actually go to be together.
So we all gathered in the large living area of our hotel suite ($62 a night—they were having a special!) and ate (we brought trays from Sam’s Club and home-baked Christmas goodies) and talked and opened gifts. It was so nice. The next day some of us were able to attend our old church for a Christmas morning service. We spent the rest of the day visiting Chicago-area family members.
Our son and his wife headed back home Christmas evening. The next day, my wonderful husband took dd17 out shopping, using the trolley that stops near the hotel, so I could take the car and dsds15 to see his best buddy, who also has Down syndrome, is the youngest of five and is homeschooled. They had a great time hanging out, and I enjoyed my time with his mom, who is one of my dearest friends. It was hard to say good-bye, that’s for sure.
That night we went into the city to see our daughter. She has her apartment fixed up just the way she likes it, and she really did a great job. It was good to spend some more time with her.
The next morning, we left for home. It took twice as long as usual because there was thick fog all the way back. I’ve never seen anything like it….300 miles’ worth of fog! We were very glad to get home safely. Since then, it’s been laundry and end-of-the-year bookkeeping and exciting things like that.
And tomorrow will be 2009. What will the year bring? For us, the odd-numbered years have always been the most exciting. We were married in one (1979), had our kids in odd-numbered years (1983, 1985, 1991, 1993), and started our businesses in odd-numbered years (1995, 2003, 2007). Our big upheaval (a move after nearly twenty years in one house) also happened in an odd-numbered year (2007).
Today’s news reports are full of predictions of economic difficulties, violence here and abroad, and other sad things in 2009. But we must never forget that God is in control. I have great hopes for this year. For you, I hope 2009 is the best year ever!
I work hard to make sure my family eats nutritious meals. I’ll bet you do too. But even if you’re a cook-from-scratch kind of parent, it will do your family no good if the ingredients you use have toxins in them.
That’s why it’s so important that we know the sources of the food we buy. Other countries may not be as strict as we are when it comes to making sure food is not contaminated. Some don’t even check. I was buying newly affordable tilapia weekly until I learned that in China, where most of the tilapia comes from these days, fish raised for exporting live in filthy water full of sewage. We haven’t eaten tilapia since.
Then there was the news that melamine was found in baby formula. Even Chinese babies had died from this, yet China allowed it to continue until the global press publicized it, creating an outcry around the world.
Now we learn that French organic farmers have discovered that the imported-from-China soymeal they’ve been feeding their poultry is contaminated with melamine. Testing on the poultry has not shown contamination, but since the testing of the soymeal showed up to 30 times the allowable level of melamine (why is any amount allowed?), you have to wonder.
So French citizens who bought organic poultry from organic farmers at extra expense, presumably because they don’t want to eat poultry raised on antibiotics and who knows what else, got poultry that ate contaminated soymeal. I would be pretty ticked if I were them, and it makes me wonder what’s getting through to our food supply here in the U.S.
But we don’t even know where much of our food comes from. We have a six-year old country-of-origin labeling law that our government has not enforced. In fact, the USDA believes labeling should be voluntary, having already decreed that it’s not worth the cost.
I want all the food I buy to be labeled, and I don’t mean with useless phrases like “Distributed in the USA.” Yes, we know it’s distributed in the USA (duh)….what we want to know is, where did it come from? If it’s from China, I’ll take a pass. Given their track record, I just don’t trust them.